The one hundred and five martyrs of Tyburn

The

One Hundred and Five
Martyrs of Tyburn

BX
1492
.19
1917

IMST

By the
ns of Tyburn (Convent

/

LIBRARY

\

The One Hundred and Five
Martyrs of Tyburn

PRINTED IN ENGLAND BY
THE WESTMINSTER PRESS, LONDON, W.

f)e IBeneDictme 9po0tle0 anD

of OEnglartD,

Copyright, St. Bride's Abbey, Milford Haven

The One Hundred and
Five Martyrs of Tyburn

By the Nuns of Tyburn Convent

With an Introduction by
Dom BEDE CAMM, O.S.B.

BURNS & GATES, LTD.

28 Orchard Street '
London, W

1917 ;

Yltbtl &stat :

H. S. BOWDEN,

Censor Deputatus.

Imprimatur :

EDM. CAN. SURMONT,

Vic. Gen.

Westmonasterii, die 8 Februarii, 1917.

i 3 1999

This little book is gratefully dedicated to the
Founders and Benefactors of Tyburn.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction by Dom Bede Camm, O.S.B. 9
Short Biographies of the One Hundred and

Five Martyrs 13
Small Guide for a Visit to the Oratory of the

English Martyrs 83

List of Relics 91

Some Notes on Tyburn Convent 96
The Vow made by the Community of Tyburn

for the Conversion of England 102

INTRODUCTION

THE Oratory of the English Martyrs has
become a Shrine that is verydear to many
devout pilgrims. Though it is only a tem-
porary one, housed in a room which is far from
being worthy of its hallowed memories, it has
yet a character and dignity of its own which
appeals to the heart and stimulates the imagina-
tion.

It is now some years since a few devoted
friends of Tyburn took it upon them to decorate
and enrich this little Shrine, so that it might
tell more vividly the story of those great souls
who consecrated this soil with their blood.

It was a Benedictine monk who first con-
ceived the idea of overshadowing the altar of
sacrifice with a presentiment of the Triple Tree
of Tyburn, the Holy Rood of this our English
Calvary. It was another Benedictine who
carried out his ideas, designed the Tree with
its pendant lamps, the altar reredos and orna-
ments which make so strong an appeal to the
lovers of our Martyrs. Not only this, but the
work itself was carried out in the Benedictine

B

io INTRODUCTION

workshops at Maredsous, by sons of that
Belgian Mother then on the very threshold of
her Martyrdom. The statues of our Martyrs,
the lace-like carving of the canopies (adopted
from a famous rood-loft in Devonshire), the
brazen lamps, the rich palm-embroidered hang-
ings, are all the work of hands belonging to a
country which has since grasped the martyrs'
palm. It was thought at the time that it was not
inappropriate that Belgian hands should work
to the glory of those who had found on Belgian
soil a place of refuge in persecution, a school of
training for the priesthood and the crown. But
how much more deeply appropriate does it seem
to us now !

It was a Benedictine Oblate who, in generous
and devoted love for the Martyrs of Tyburn,
furnished the necessary funds, at the cost of
great self-sacrifice, for Tree, Altar, windows,
reliquaries, and the rest. Benedictine Abbeys
gave of the treasures of holy relics to enrich the
Shrine with the most precious of all gifts. A
Benedictine monk collected them from many
places, where they had long been cherished,
and Benedictine Nuns it was who enshrined
them in their present resting-places, and adorned
them with the skilled labour of their hands.

And thus the older branches of the Order

INTRODUCTION n

have helped to beautify this lowly Shrine, which
is confided to the care of the youngest, but not
the least worthy, of the many religious families
who own St. Benedict as Father and Patriarch.

Those who visit this Sanctuary are asked to
pray for the Benefactors who have done their
part in the work, and they are requested also
to give their offerings towards the building of
the new and glorious Sanctuary which some
day must replace this little lowly Shrine.

The present altar ornaments and stained
glass will all be retained in the new Chapel,
and will show to far greater advantage than
they can in their present cramped surround-
ings.

Would it not be a seemly and beautiful me-
morial to our glorious dead, who have fallen in the
present war if, in the very heart of London, a
sanctuary of unceasing prayer should be raised
to the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in
memory of the Martyrs of England ? Here at
Tyburn the martyrs of the olden times would
clasp hands with their heroic sons of to-day, and
around the Throne of the Eucharistic Lamb
would rise unceasingly from the alternate choirs
of that white-robed host, the hymn of triumph
and victory, the Warriors' song of peace.

Thus the memories of the crusaders of

12 INTRODUCTION

Gallipoli and the Egyptian desert and of the
heroes of French and Flemish battlefields would
be linked for ever with the fadeless glory of the
martyrs who won their palms at Tyburn Tree.
Their names, inscribed on the walls of the
sanctuary, would go down to future ages linked
inseparably with the names, still more glorious,
of those who taught them how to die. And the
Chapel of the English Martyrs would remain
an imperishable record of the heroes of the
Twentieth as of the Sixteenth Century.'"

This is but a dream at present, but one that
under God's Providence may yet become a reality.

Meanwhile let pilgrims learn at Tyburn that
love is stronger than death, and sacrifice more
fruitful than possession.

DOM BEDE CAMM, O.S.B., C.F.,

3 IST GENERAL HOSPITAL,
PORT SAID, EGYPT.
August, 2o//>, 1916.

*In linking the names of the heroes of the present
war with those of the English Martyrs, it is not
meant to imply that our glorious dead are martyrs in
the technical sense of " dying for the Faith," but
that they sacrificed their lives for the principle of
liberty, justice, patriotism, and religion, consider-
ing their cause the cause of God.

The 105 Martyrs of Tyburn

26 Beatified 79 Venerable.

Benedictines Venerable 7

Carthusians Beatified 7

Bridgettine i

Franciscans 3

Dominican i

Jesuits Beatified 5

Venerable 14

Secular Priests Beatified 1 1

Venerable 33

Laymen Beatified 2

Venerable 18

Gentlewomen Venerable 2

And the last Tyburn Martyr

Archbishop Venerable i

Total 10 ;

14 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

JANUARY IITH, 1584.
YEN. WILLIAM CARTER, Layman.

HE was a Londoner, and a Printer and Book-
seller by profession. Zeal for the dissemination
of Catholic truth was the cause of his martyr-
dom. A series of imprisonments interrupted his
work, but as soon as he recovered liberty he
returned to the task of spreading literature for
the exhortation and comfort of his fellow
Catholics. This he achieved with great diffi-
culty owing to the extreme danger of the times,
and it is said that his Printing Press was so small
that he could hardly print more than one page
at a time, while some books he copied entirely
by hand. He was held in high esteem by his
friends, and one of the reasons why he was so
cruelly racked when finally arrested, was that
he had been entrusted with the custody of
Chalices and Vestments whose owners he
refused to betray. At the trial, the chief accusa-
tion against him was that he had instigated the
Queen's enemies (Catholic Englishwomen) to
murder their Sovereign. A Treatise on Schism,
the book for the printing of which he was con-
demned, contained a paragraph about Judith
and " Holofernes, the master heretic," and
this it was affirmed was only a paraphrase

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 15

indicating Elizabeth. While the jury retired to
confer on the verdict, Carter availed himself of the
opportunity of confessing to a priest who was
waiting like him for the death sentence. The
day following his trial, William Carter was
dragged to Tyburn and there hanged and quar-
tered.

JANUARY 21 ST, 1586.

YEN. EDWARD STRANCHAM, Secular
Priest.

YEN. NICHOLAS WOODFEN, or WHEE-
LER, Secular Priest.

THE first of these Martyrs was an Oxford man,
both born and bred. Shortly after taking his
Bachelor's degree at St. John's College, he
became a convert to the Catholic Faith and
went over to Douai to study for the priesthood.
He returned to England in 1581, together with
NICHOLAS WOODFEN. The latter was
born at Leinster. His true name was Wheeler.
While lodging in Fleet Street he ministered
under his assumed name to the gentlemen of
the Inns of Court, whose manner of dress he
adopted. After enduring much poverty and
persecution for five years, both priests were
put to death with great barbarity on the same
day.

16 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

January 2ist, 1642.

VEN. BARTHOLOMEW ALBAN ROE,
Priest, O.S.B.

VEN. THOMAS GREEN, or REYNOLDS,
Secular Priest.

THE Benedictine Monk, known in religion as
FATHER ALBAN, was born in Suffolk and
brought up as a Protestant. All his life he was
full of zeal, and it was in the attempt to refute
the 'errors' of a man imprisoned at St.
Alban's for holding the Catholic Faith that he
received the initial grace of his own conversion.
After this interview, in which his adversary
gained the victory, he was never at peace until
he found himself in the safe port of the True
Church. Having entered the Benedictine Order
in Lorraine, he prepared himself with assiduity
to exercise the apostolate in England. He spent
a great part of his life in prison, once in Maiden
Lane, afterwards at St. Alban's, whence he was
removed to the Fleet Prison, where he remained
for seventeen years. He never lost his dauntless
gaiety, and amid his many and severe sufferings
of mind and body he never ceased to labour for

i

souls.

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 17

YEN. THOMAS REYNOLDS was born in
Oxford, and studied abroad for the sake of the
Catholic Religion no longer tolerated in his own
country. He returned after receiving Holy
Orders, and, passing through many vicissitudes,
he was condemned to death at the advanced
age of eighty years, fifty of which he had spent
in the ministry of the priesthood. His com-
panion in martyrdom, Father Alban Roe, met
him with a cheerful countenance before the
hurdle that was to convey them both to Tyburn.
The two martyrs made their confessions to each
other and recited the " Miserere ' alternately.
' Friend, pray let all be secure and do thy duty
neatly, I have been a neat man all my life/' the
old priest said to the executioner. ' I dare
look death in the face," said Father Roe, when
they would have bound his eyes.

JANUARY 22ND, 1592.
YEN. WILLIAM PATENSON, Secular Priest.

HE was a native of Durham and became an
alumnus and priest of Douai College during
its residence at Rheims, and was sent on the
English mission a year after his ordination.
He came to London to seek counsel in
order to rid himself of the scruples of con-
science with which he was troubled. On the

i8 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

third Sunday in Advent, 1591, the house where
he was staying was searched by constables and
churchwardens and sidesmen of the Protestant
Parish Church with the object of finding which
of the inmates did not attend the services.
Father Patenson was seized and condemned
at the first session held after Christmas. The
night before his execution he was put into the
" condemned hole " with seven malefactors who
were to suffer with him on the following day.
He converted six of them and helped them to
make their peace with God. The persecutors
were so enraged at the profession of the Catholic
Faith they made on the scaffold, and the con-
stancy with which they accepted an ignomin-
ious death in satisfaction for their past crimes,
that the Martyr was treated with more than
usual barbarity.

JANUARY 241*1, 1679.

YEN. WILLIAM IRELAND, Priest, SJ.
YEN. JOHN GROVE, Layman.

YEN. W. IRELAND was born in Lincolnshire
and brought up at St. Omer's. He entered the
Society of Jesus at the age of 19. He had the re-
putation of possessing a wonderful calm and

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 19

evenness of mind on all occasions. On return-
ing to England, he was apprehended on the first
breaking out of the Titus Gates Plot, and suf-
fered much from the loathsomeness of the prison
and the weight of his iron chains. He was
brought to trial with several others, including
JOHN GROVE, a layman employed as a
servant by the English Jesuits in their business
about town.

Oates and Bedloe swore that Father Ireland
had been present at a consultation held in August
for killing the King, although the priest brought
many to witness he was in Staffordshire at the
time. Oates and Bedloe also swore that Grove
was appointed to shoot the King, for which deed
he was to receive a preposterous amount of
money. On Friday, the 24th of January, the
martyrs were drawn from Newgate to Tyburn,
and were abused and pelted by the mob all the
way. They endured every insult with cheerful
patience, and died forgiving those who were
guilty of their blood, and praying for their King
and Country.

20 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

FEBRUARY IST, 1645.
YEN. HENRY MORSE, Priest, SJ.

BORN in Suffolk in the year 1595, he was recon-
ciled to the Church at the age of twenty- three,
and received Holy Orders at Douai. Being sent
on the English Mission, he was at once cap-
tured, and imprisoned for three years among
felons and malefactors. This prison was at the
same time his place of novitiate. He there
prepared himself to become a Jesuit, and a
priest of the Society who was also in prison
assisted him as a novice master. Ven. Henry
Morse was twice banished from the kingdom,
but found means to return and devote himself
to the service of poor Catholics in the time of
the Plague. He was charged with " perverting >:
560 Protestants in one Parish alone.

On the morning of his martyrdom he cele-
brated the votive Mass of the Blessed Trinity
in thanksgiving for the great favour God was
pleased to grant him a favour he had besought
for thirty years having first, according to his
custom, recited the Litanies of Our Lady and
the Saints for the conversion of England. When
he was admonished that his time was come, he
knelt down and offered himself without reserve
as a sacrifice to the Divine Majesty and in

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 21

reparation for the sins of his nation. He welcomed
death, saying : ' Come, my sweetest Jesus,
that I may now be inseparably united to Thee
in time and in eternity. Welcome ropes, hurdles,
gibbets, knives and butchery ! welcome for the
love of Jesus my Saviour ! '

FEBRUARY 3RD, 1578.
BLESSED JOHN NELSON, Priest, S.J.

THIS martyr was born at Shelton, near York.
He was arrested on suspicion late one evening
when saying Matins. The Oath of the Queen's
supremacy was offered to him, but he refused
to take it, saying that the Pope's Holiness was
the Head of the Church " to whom that supreme
authority on earth was due, as being Christ's
Vicar, and the lawful successor of St. Peter."
When sentence was pronounced against him,
he never changed countenance, but prepared
himself with a good countenance to die. By
God's special providence, he received ' the
Sacred Viaticum the day before he was arraigned.
Arrived at Tyburn, he turned to the people,
saying : ' I call you all this day to witness that
I die in the unity of the Catholic Church, and
for that unity do now most willingly suffer my
blood to be shed ; and therefore I beseech God,

22 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

and request you all to pray for the same, that it
would please God of His great mercy to make
you, and all others that are not such already, true
Catholic men. ... 'He then besought all who
were of the like Faith to pray with him " that
Christ, by the merits of His bitter Passion,
would receive his soul into everlasting joy."
He was cut down when only half dead. As
his heart was plucked out he was heard to
murmur : ' I forgive the Queen and all that
were causers of my death."

FEBRUARY 7TH, 1578.
BLESSED THOMAS SHERWOOD, Layman.

HE was born in London, and was one of a large
family. He had returned from Douai in order
to arrange with his father about remaining at
the seminary, and was one day talking in Chan-
cery Lane when the cry was raised, " Stop the
traitor ! " It was the unworthy son of a Catholic
lady with whom he was staying who thus be-
trayed him. Having replied to the question put
to him that he believed the Holy Father to be
the Head of the Church, the young seminarist
was sent to prison on a charge of high treason.
In the vain attempt to force him to reveal where
and by whom he had heard Mass said, he was

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 23

taken to the Tower to be cruelly racked. The
only words which escaped him were : ' Lord
Jesus, I am not worthy that I should suffer
these things for Thee, much less am I worthy
of those rewards which Thou hast promised to
give to such as confess Thee." He was then
thrown into a dungeon under the banks of the
Thames, among the rats, where he endured
hunger and cold for three winter months.

On the Eve of Candlemas, Sherwood was tried
and found guilty of denying the royal supremacy,
and the barbarous sentence was passed. He is
described as small, and he looked much younger
than his twenty-seven years ; ' being of his
nature very meek and gentle."

FEBRUARY IZTH, 1584.

YEN. JAMES FENN, Secular Priest. ,
YEN. GEORGE HAYDOCK, Secular Priest.

YEN. THOMAS HAMERFORD, Secular
Priest.

YEN. JOHN MUNDEN, Secular Priest.
YEN. JOHN NUTTER, Secular Priest.

ON the Feast of St. Peter's Chains, these
prisoners of Christ were accounted worthy to
hear the death sentence passed on them for
upholding the primacy of Peter.

24 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

JAMES FENN was born at Montacute, in
Somersetshire. He made his studies at Oxford,
at New College and Corpus Christi College.
On the death of his wife he became a Seminary
Priest. A moving scene took place at the Tower
Gate after he was bound on the hurdle ; his
little daughter Frances, with many tears, came
to take her last leave of him and receive his
blessing, which he gave her with difficulty,
striving to raise his manacled hands.

GEORGE HAYDOCK, the son of the
Squire of Cottamhall, near Preston, Lancashire
was the youngest of the five martyr priests,
being only twenty-four years old when
he suffered. In answer to the questions
put by the minister, he said that if he and
the Queen were alone in some desert place
where he could do to her what he would he
would not so much as prick her with a pin :
" No, not to gain the whole world, and," he
added, " I beg and beseech all Catholics to pray
together with me to our common Lord for me
and for our Country's weal."

YEN. THOMAS HAMERFORD and YEN.
JOHN MUNDEN welcomed death with great
fortitude. Father Munden acknowledged his

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 25

sentence by joyfully reciting the * Te Deum."
They were both natives of Dorset.

YEN. JOHN NUTTER was born in Lancas-
shire. He won for himself the name " John of
Plain Dealing ' from his fellow prisoners for
his outspokenness in rebuking vice. He is said
to have been timid by nature, but he now met
a most cruel death with no less courage and
constancy than his companions.

FEBRUARY 17111, 1603.

VEN. WILLIAM RICHARDSON, Secular
Priest.

HE was born in Yorkshire, and was a priest of
the seminaries of Douai and Spain. On return-
ing to England, he found a refuge in the Inns
of Court, and brought many into the Catholic
Church, especially among the young lawyers,
numbers of whom placed themselves under his
direction. When, after a few years, he was
arrested, his spiritual sons would gladly have
risked their lives in planning his escape by
night. This he utterly refused to permit, saying :
' I know well it comes from your great love
for me. . . But what could you possibly wish
for me that could be more honourable or more

c

26 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

glorious . . . than to die . . .for the confession
of the true Faith and the Christian religion. . .
Rather strive with me in prayer to God that He
may give me prudence and wisdom to reply
discreetly to the judges, and strength of soul to
bear whatever sufferings are laid upon me."
He was sentenced to the most barbarous penal-
ties decreed against priests, and the following
day was dragged to Tyburn, escorted by many
of his fervent disciples, who ever and again
pressed to the side of the hurdle to wipe the
slush from his face, and at the last they could
not be kept back from crowding to kiss his hands
and obtain his blessing till he mounted the
ladder by which he was to ascend to God.

Five weeks later, Elizabeth was called to
appear before the Just Judge, after a reign of
more than forty-four years.

FEBRUARY i8xH. 1594.

YEN. WILLIAM HARRINGTON, Secular

Priest. ....

HE was born in Yorkshire. Before being led
forth to the hurdle on the morning of his
triumph, he gave his blessing to some poor
Catholic women who found means to come to
him. At Tyburn he was offered his life if he

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 27

would promise to go once to the church by law
established. He said : " See, then, all my
treason is that I will not go to church ! ' Top-
cliffe then bade him tell all he knew of the
Catholics in the west country, as it was known
that he had friends there and it was in the power
of the Sheriff to show mercy and save him. The
Martyr replied he had nothing to disclose, and
Topcliffe's mercy was worse than the Turk's
who, having the body in subjection, sought not
to destroy the soul. Yet he prayed God to for-
give him though he was a tyrant and a blood-
sucker. " No doubt you shall have blood
enough," he added, * so long as you have
hands and a halter to hang us, you shall not want
priests ; we were three hundred in England ;
you have put to death one hundred ; other two
hundred are left. When they are gone, two
hundred more are ready to come in their place.
For my part, I hope my death will do more
good than ever my life would have dene."

FEBRUARY 21 ST, 1595.
VEN. ROBERT SOUTHWELL, Priest, S.J.

HE was born at St. Faith's, in Norfolk, and was
received into the Society of Jesus when only 16
years old, and early showed signs of great literary

28 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

gifts. He laboured among his persecuted fellow-
countrymen for eight years, at the end of which
time he was betrayed and apprehended a few
miles from London. Being cast into the Tower,
he was left for the first month in a most filthy
dungeon, and for three years he was kept in
prison and was ten times cruelly racked. When
he learnt that he was to give the supreme proof
of his love, his heart overflowed with joy.

Great care was taken to keep the day of his
martyrdom secret, and a famous highwayman
was purposely sentenced to be executed at
another place at the same hour. These pre-
cautions were, however, powerless to prevent
an immense crowd assembling at Tyburn to
witness the last glorious conflict of the holy
Jesuit, poet and Martyr. He made the sign of
the cross as well as he was able with his manacled
hands, and then began to speak to the people in
the words of the Apostle : " Whether we live,
we live to the Lord, or whether we die, we die
to the Lord ; therefore, whether we live or
whether we die, we belong to the Lord." Then
he prayed for the Queen and for his poor country,
imploring the Divine Bounty to favour it with
His light and the knowledge of His truth. He
died at the same age as Our Saviour.

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 29

FEBRUARY a6TH, 1607.

YEN. ROBERT DRURY, Secular Priest.
BORN in Buckinghamshire, Robert Drury was
educated partly at Rheims and partly at Vail ad -
olid, where he received ordination, returning to
England in 1593. He fell into the hands of the
persecutors about the time that a new Oath of
Allegiance was imposed upon Catholics in the
reign of James I. This oath is said to have been
contrived by Sir Christopher Perkins, a fallen
Jesuit, and was worded in such a manner that
Catholics could be divided in their opinion as
to its lawfulness. It was prohibited by Pope
Paul V, and that was enough for Father Drury
as for all true Catholics. When condemned to
die for remaining in the realm contrary to the
statute, he might have saved his life by taking
the oath, but chose to sacrifice his life rather
than his conscience.

He suffered with great constancy at the age of
thirty-nine.

30 THE ONE PIUNDRED AND FIVE
FEBRUARY 27111, 1601.

VEN. MARK BARKWORTH, Priest, O.S.B.
YEN. ROGER FILCOCK, Priest, S.J.
VEN. ANNE LINE, Widow.

IT was the Benedictine Father who sang on his
way to Tyburn in the bitter cold and falling snow.
Again, as he stood in the cart with his companion
priest, the ropes about their necks, " Haec dies
quam fecit Dominus exultemus," he sang, and
the Jesuit took up the words of the Easter
anthem, " Etlaetemurin ea." Father Barkworth
was born in Lincolnshire, and became a convert
of the Catholic Faith at the age of twenty-two.
Having gone to Flanders and thence to Spain,
he returned to England to work on the mission.
In order to remind the spectators of the debt
England owed to the children of St. Benedict,
he desired to be martyred in the monastic habit.
A minister cried out : " Repent of your sins
and remember that Christ has given His life
for you." The monk devoutly kissed the rope,
" And so am I now giving my life for Him, and
would I had a thousand lives to lay down for
Him."

VEN. ROGER FILCOCK, who witnessed the
death of his two companions before he suffered

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 31

himself, was born at Sandwich, in Kent. The two
martyrs were lifelong friends, and Father Bark-
worth had a prophetic presentiment when he
wrote shortly before the event : " My mind
tells me that we shall die together, who have
so long lived together."

ANNE LINE, weak of body but strong of
soul, was the first of the three to be martyred.
Her desire of martyrdom had been increased by
a vision she had had of Our Lord in the Blessed
Sacrament bearing His Cross and beckoning her
to follow Him. On Candlemas Day, 1601, the
pursuivants, suspecting she harboured a priest,
broke in while Father Page was saying Mass.
He had time to escape, but the brave widow was
hurried off to prison and soon afterwards con-
demned. At Tyburn she declared with a loud
voice : " I am sentenced to death for harbouring
a Catholic Priest, and so far I am from repent-
ing for having so done, that I wish with all my
soul that where I have entertained one I could
have entertained a thousand."

32 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

MARCH yin, 1544.
BLESSED JOHN LARKE, Secular Priest.

BLESSED JERMYN GARDINER, Secular
Priest.

YEN. JOHN IRELAND, Secular Priest.
YEN. THOMAS ASHBY, Layman.

BLESSED J. LARKE had been the rector of
St. Ethelburga's, Bishopsgate, for twenty-six
years, when Blessed Thomas More made him
parish priest of the old riverside Church at
Chelsea. It was here the Lord Chancellor came
with his household on Sundays and holidays,
accounting it a high privilege to serve Mass, and
where he came finally to be shriven and receive
Holy Communion the morning of the day he
was summoned to appear before the Council.

Blessed John Larke carried on his work for
souls another ten years after that. Then, in the
thirty-fifth year of the reign of Henry VIII, he
was himself put to the final test, and " following
the example of his own sheep, afterwards suffered
a most famous martyrdom for the same cause
of the supremacy." Two other secular priests,
BLESSED J. GARDINER kinsman and
secretary of the Bishop of Winchester and
YEN. J. IRELAND, with YEN. T. ASHBY,
Layman, shared his condemnation and martyr-
dom.

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 33

APRIL IITH, 1608.
YEN. GEORGE GERVASE, Priest, O.S.B.

HE was born at Bosham, in Sussex, his mother
belonging to the Shelley family of that county.
George was left an orphan when only twelve
years old, and with two of his brothers, was kid-
napped by pirates and carried off to the Indies.
After another period of twelve years, during
which time he quite lost the religion taught him
as a child, he found means to return to England,
and afterwards went over to Flanders, where
he succeeded in tracing his eldest brother.
George Gervase was there reconciled to the
Catholic Faith, and soon after entered the
English seminary at Douai. In due time he was
ordained and sent on the English Mission. In
the space of two years he won many souls to
God, and was then apprehended and sent from
prison to banishment. His brother endeavoured
to persuade him to remain in safety in Flanders,
but the promise by which he was bound, as well
as the great love he bore his country, brought
him back to die for it. He was thirty-six years of
age when he yielded up his life at Tyburn, and
had been but lately enrolled in the Order of St.
Benedict.

34 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

APRIL lyTH, 1643.

VEN. HENRY (PAUL OF ST. MAGDALEN)
HEATH, Priest, O.F.M.

HE was born at Peterborough, of Protestant
parents, and studied at Oxford. His love for
books, especially for those written by the
Fathers of the Church, proved the means by
which he found the true Faith. For a while he
remained at Douai seminary before entering
the Convent of the Franciscans in that town,
being attracted by their fervour and poverty.
Here for nineteen years he led a life of great
penance, obedience and meekness, and it was
here that his old father, for whose conversion he
had so much prayed, came to seek admission to
the fold of Christ and became a lay brother in this
convent of which his son was twice guardian.

Father Heath had long been consumed by an
ardent desire for martyrdom, and craved per-
mission to return to his country. This he at
length obtained through the intercession of Our
Lady of Montagu, near Lou vain. Having begged
his way to London, he was immediately arrested
and his sentence promptly pronounced. From
his dungeon he wrote to his Superior : " What
other thing can I desire than to suffer with
Christ, to be reproached with Christ, to die a

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 35

thousand deaths that I may live for ever with
Christ. ... ' On the way to Tyburn, having
said his " Nunc Dimittis," he ever invoked the
Name of Jesus. He died with intense joy and
sweetness. ' Jesus, convert England, Jesus have
mercy on this country ; oh, England, be con-
verted to the Lord thy God ! " were the words
with which he breathed out his soul.

APRIL IQTH, 1602.

VEN. JAMES DUCKETT, Layman.

His boyhood was spent among the Westmore-
land hills, where he was brought up in the new
religion. After his school-days he was bound
apprentice to a merchant in London, and there
became convinced of the truth of Catholicism,
which he embraced after many trials and diffi-
culties. He chose the trade of a bookseller, and
supplied books to Catholics, and this was the
cause of his spending much of his married life
in prison. He was betrayed by a bookbinder,
who being condemned to death thus sought
to save his own life, but lost it, together with his
honour. The Martyr met him again in the same
cart that was to take them to Tyburn. As they
stood beneath the gibbet, with ropes round their
necks, James Duckett said : " Peter, the cause

36 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

of my coming hither God and thyself knowest,
for which I from my heart forgive thee." Then
he bent and kissed him, saying : Thy life and
mine are not long ; wilt thou promise me one
thing ? If thou wilt, speak. Wilt thou die as I
die, a Catholic ? "

' I will die as a Christian should die," was
the answer.

APRIL 20TH, 1586.

VEN. RICHARD SERGEANT, Secular Priest.

YEN. WILLIAM THOMPSON, Secular
Priest.

VEN. RICHARD SERGEANT was born in
Gloucestershire, and his companion in martyr-
dom at Blackburn, in Lancashire. After a fruitful
apostolate, both gladly laid down their lives for
Christ. They were condemned for having been
made priests beyond the seas.

APRIL 20TH, 1602.

VEN. FRANCIS PAGE, Priest, SJ.

VEN. THOMAS TICHBURN, Secular Priest.

VEN. ROBERT WATKINSON, Secular Priest.

VEN. FRANCIS PAGE was a lawyer's clerk
at the time of his conversion, which he owed to
the lady to whom he was betrothed. Thereupon
giving up his heart wholly to God, he entered

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 37

the seminary of the martyrs. He was saying Mass
in the house of Anne Line on that Candlemas
Day on which she was captured. A year later
he was sold to his enemies by a woman who had
once professed herself to be a Catholic, but who
subsequently turned to the base business of be-
traying priests into the hands of their enemies.

FATHER TICHBURN was born at Hartley,
in Hampshire. He was the kinsman of Ven.
Nicholas Tichburn, who had suffered in his
stead in the August of the previous year. He
had now the happiness of witnessing to Christ
with the life which was already burning itself
out in a hectic fever.

It was FATHER WATKINSON who, on
returning to England in weak health, met on
the following day a venerable stranger who,
before suddenly disappearing, greeted him with
the words, * Jesus bless you, Sir, you seem
to be sick and troubled with many infirmities ;
but be of good cheer, for within these four days,
you shall be cured of all." And so it befell.

38 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

APRIL 26TH, 1642.
YEN. EDWARD MORGAN, Secular Priest.

BORN in Flintshire, North Wales, he was edu-
cated at the English College of Douai, and was
ordained priest at Salamanca.

The last fifteen years of his life were passed
in the Fleet prison, where he suffered the want
of all things except courage and confidence in
God.

" For though," said he, when death ap-
proached, " by nature I am timorous, now have
I no manner of apprehension of halters, knives
or fires, or whatever else I may suffer for a good
cause, and gladly would I have many lives if I
might lay them all down in the service of so good
a Master."

He said to those who came to receive his last
blessing and his cloak was nearly all snipped
away for relics " Pray that I may die as a
Catholic priest, with a constant humility and a
humble constancy, that no fear may terrify me,
neither any presumption puff me up. . . "

Father Morgan met death with such cheer-
fulness that a minister reproved him. The
Martyr replied : " Why should anyone be
offended at my going to Heaven cheerfully ? for
God loves a cheerful giver."

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 39

MAY 4TH, 1535.

BLESSED JOHN HOUGHTON, Carthusian
Prior.

BLESSED AUGUSTINE WEBSTER, Car-
thusian Prior.

BLESSED ROBERT LAWRENCE, Carthus-
ian Prior.

BLESSED RICHARD REYNOLDS, Priest,
Bridgittine.

BLESSED JOHN HAILE, Secular Priest.

BLESSED JOHN HOUGHTON was born in
Essex. He was the Prior and proto-martyr of the
London Charterhouse, and was also the proto-
martyr of the one hundred and five glorious
martyrs of Tyburn. When, in 1535, the Act of
the Royal Supremacy was published, he went,
together with the Carthusian Pricrs of Beauvale
and Axholme, to plead that the monks might
be held exempt from the Oath, or that it might
be mitigated for them, though with one voice
they had chosen to die rather than swerve in
their allegiance to the Holy See. Thomas
Cromwell's answer was to send the three Priors
to the Tower. They were tried and sentenced
to death. Clad in their white habits, and stretched
on hurdles, they came to Tyburn as gladly as to
a marriage feast. Blessed John Houghton was
the first to win his crown. He was cut down

40 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

while still conscious, and bore the butchery in-
flicted on him with invincible meekness. " Good
Jesu ! what will Ye do with my heart ? " he cried
as it was torn from his breast.

BLESSED RICHARD REYNOLDS was
perhaps the most learned monk of his time in
England, and certainly one of the holiest. He
was known to all as the " Angel of Sion," a title
he won by his saintly life in the Bridgittine
Monastery of Isle worth. It was felt that the
submission of such a man to the King's new
statutes would act powerfully upon the whole
country, and he was put to the test accordingly.
But this project entirely failed, his allegiance
to the Holy See remained unshaken, and the
terrible sufferings of dungeon and gibbet only
served to add to the high opinion men had of him.

BLESSED JOHN HAILE was far advanced
in years when he was brought to trial on the
charge of maliciously slandering the King.
Unlike some of the Martyrs, he felt the full
horror and dread of death, and this circum-
stance, aggravated by age and sickness, made
his end all the more admirable, for he never
swerved, but offered the sacrifice of his life with
as much love and fortitude as the most light-
hearted among them.

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 41

MAY QTH, 1679.

VEN. THOMAS PICKERING, Lay-Brother,
O.S.B.

HE was professed in the English monastery of
Douai, and on returning to his own country was
arraigned as a conspirator in the Gates Plot. It
was sworn against the Benedictine Brother by
perjured witnesses that being " a religious man "
he was to have 30,000 Masses at a shilling
a Mass for killing the King (an absurd charge as
he was not a priest). He was further accused of
walking in St. James's Park with John Grove
see January 24th -armed with pistols in view of
this attempt. A most improbable story was con-
cocted as to how on three separate occasions
he had been foiled in his purpose. Thomas
Pickering truly declared he had never fired a
pistol in his life. He was indeed a man incapable
of harming anyone, and the most unlikely to plan
such a desperate deed. He was, however, found
guilty but reprieved for five months longer,
the King being very unwilling to consent to the
death of one whose father had given his life
in the late civil wars for the royal cause. But
the Martyr, knowing full well that his religion
was his only treason, was most happy to die for
it. At Tyburn, in answer to those who bade him

D

42 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

confess his guilt, ere he died, he pulled off his
cap, showing a smiling countenance : " Is this,"
said he, " the countenance of a man who dies
under so gross a guilt ? "

MAY IQTH, 1651.
YEN. PETER WRIGHT, Priest, SJ.

HE was the son of poor parents, and was born at
Slipton, in Northamptonshire. On the death of
his father, he entered the service of a country
lawyer. After making a pilgrimage to Rome, he
was received into the novitiate of the Jesuits in
Ghent. During the Civil Wars he was sent on
a Mission to the English soldiers, and was
afterwards chaplain to the Winchester family,
with whom he lived until he was captured by
priest-catchers on Candlemas Day, 1651.

On the morning of his martyrdom, hearing a
knock at the iron grill, he took it as a summons
from Heaven, and cried out : " I come, sweet
Jesus, I come." It was said by an eyewitness that
* the Blessed Father was drawn like a triumphal
victor to Tyburn." Two hundred coaches and
five hundred horsemen thronged the way.
Many sought his last blessing from their win-
dows, balconies and carriages, or pressing
forward to the hurdle, kissed his hands and cut

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 43

pieces from his garments for relics. Tyburn
fields presented one waving mass, the concourse
being reckoned to number 20,000.

Even in his death-agony, the Martyr's coun-
tenance was seen to be smiling and beautiful.
' And as he drew his last breath, lo ! a little
bird on a sudden flew through the forest of
javelins, between the gallows and the Martyr's
head, and poising its wings . . seemed . . .
to perch there like a sacerdotal crown. . .

MAY 28TH, 1582.

BLESSED THOMAS FORDE, Secular Priest.

BLESSED ROBERT JOHNSON, Secular
Priest.

BLESSED JOHN SHERT, Secular Priest.

BLESSED THOMAS FORDE, the first of
these three Martyrs to enter the sharp, bitter
conflict, was born in Devonshire and brought
up at Trinity College, Oxford. Not liking the
Protestant religion, he quitted all temporal
prospects in order to become a seminary priest.
He was apprehended with Father Campion
and with him cast into the Tower. Six months
after receiving his death sentence, together
with his two companion Martyrs, he was drawn
to Tyburn between 6 and 7 o'clock on that May

44 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

morning. He died praying, " Jesu, Jesu y Jesu,
esto mihi Jesus I J

BLESSED ROBERT JOHNSON was born in
Shropshire. In his youth he was a servant in a
gentleman's family. He later received Holy
Orders at Douai. He was also one of those con-
demned with Father Campion, and at three
different times was most cruelly racked.

BLESSED JOHN SHERT was born in Ches-
hire. He was a convert, and at one time a noted
London schoolmaster. Just before his own exe-
cution, seeing Blessed Thomas Forde hanged
before him, he exclaimed : " O happy Thomas,
happy art thou that thou hast run that happy
race ! O benedicta anima ! ' When forced to
look on the last horrors inflicted on the poor
mangled body, he repeated these words and was
blamed for praying to one already dead, and
again for asking the help of God's Mother and
His Saints. This he declared to be a doctrine
sound and true which he would now sign with
his blood. Then, thanking God for bringing his
poor servant to so glorious and happy a death,
the last l of these three Martyrs won his palm.

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 45

MAY 30TH, 1582.

BLESSED WILLIAM FILBIE, Secular
Priest.

BLESSED LAWRENCE RICHARDSON,

Secular Priest .

BLESSED THOMAS COTTAM, Secular
Priest.

BLESSED LUKE KIRBY, Secular Priest.

The first of these four Martyrs was born in
Oxford and made a priest at Rheims. On re-
turning to England he was apprehended with
Father Campion at Lyford Grange. It was more
than six months before his sentence was carried
out. He was drawn to Tyburn with his three
companions and, being the youngest, (he was
about twenty-seven years old), was first taken
from the hurdle. One of the Sheriff's men,
standing in the cart with him, said : " What
hast thou there in thy handkerchief ? " He found
it to be a little cross of wood, which he held up
to the crowd, crying : " O what a villainous
traitor is this that hath a cross ! '

BLESSED LAWRENCE RICHARDSON
laboured with great fruit in Lancashire, his
native country. Repeatedly pressed by Top-
cliffe and the Protestant ministers present at
his execution to renounce the Pope in order to

46 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

obtain the Queen's pardon, he bore all their
endeavours with cheerfulness and remained
unmoved.

BLESSED THOMAS COTTAM, when
told he was to die on the morrow, unable to
contain his joy, went to the window, crying :

Give God thanks with me, for to-morrow is
my day ! " At Tyburn, being placed so as to face
his companions, he prayed : " Lord Jesus, have
mercy upon them . . . Lord, give me con-
stancy to the end. O Domine, tu plura pro me
passus es ! " He and BLESSED LUKE KIRBY
both suffered the torture known as the " Scav-
enger's Daughter." This was probably the name
given to the hoop of iron into which those con-
demned were thrust, their bodies being fright-
fully crushed in it by the tightening of a large
screw .

MAY SOTH, 1612.

VEN. WILLIAM MAURUS SCOT, Priest,
O.S.B.

VEN. RICHARD NEWPORT, Secular Priest.

ON Whitsun Eve they laid down their lives " for
God's honour and the testimony of the truth."
Both Martyrs had been banished several times,
and had returned to England each time at the

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 47

peril of their lives. YEN. WILLIAM MAURUS
SCOT joined the Order of St. Benedict in
Spain, and was one of the first English monks
of the Congregation of Valladolid. He desired to
go to his martyrdom in the habit of his Order,
but this consolation was denied him. His com-
panion, YEN. RICHARD NEWPORT, had
been ordained at Rome and was a native of
Northamptonshire. His labours in the mission
field bore much fruit, and therefore his speedy
arrest and condemnation seemed all the more
desirable to the enemies of the Church. The
bodies of these two Confessors of the Faith
were rescued and conveyed at night to the
house of Dona Luisa de Carvajal, who had
already paid the last honours to the relics of
other Martyrs. The protection of the Spanish
Embassy enabled this brave woman to spend
herself in ministering to the needs, both spiritual
and corporal, of Catholics in England, the
country of her adoption, which she loved with
a devotion inspired and maintained by God
Himself.

48 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

JUNE IST, 1571.
BLESSED JOHN STOREY, Layman.

HE belonged to a Northumberland family, and
was connected with that of the Selbys. He was
a distinguished lawyer, and had held important
Government positions, but his fidelity to the
True Faith exposed him to considerable danger,
and for the sake of peace of conscience he settled
in Flanders. He soon regretted that for want of
greater courage he had deliberately deprived
himself of martyrdom, and his friends opposing
his desire to return to England, he gave himself
up to a life of prayer and penance until poverty
and the increasing number of his exiled family
compelled him to enter the service of the Duke
of Alva. It was on the pretext of aiding him in
his office, which was that of preventing the
export of heretical books. to England, that he
was lured on board a trader at Antwerp. As soon
as he was below, the hatches were closed and all
sails set for Yarmouth. From thence he was
carried to London and imprisoned in the Tower,
where he had been confined once before. He
was now very old and infirm. He was tried
on a charge of treason and for comforting traitors ,
and without proof was found guilty. At Tyburn,
with the rope round his neck, he made a long

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 49

speech, and pleaded on behalf of his wife " who
hath four young children, and God hath now
taken me away that was her staff and stay. . . .
I have good hopes that you will be good to her,
for she is the faithfulest wife, the lovingest, the
constantest, that ever man had, and twice we
have lost all that ever we had, and now she hath
lost me, to her great grief I know."

He was subjected to more than usual cruelty.
The fact that no mention is found of the use of
a triangular gallows before the year 1571 seems
to confirm the opinion that it was erected for
the purpose of drawing special attention to Dr.
Storey's execution.

JUNE I3TH, 1573.

BLESSED THOMAS WOODHOUSE, Priest,
SJ.

HE was a parish priest in Lincolnshire during
the reign of Queen Mary. After her death, when
the persecution against Catholics recommenced,
he was arrested while saying Mass. He had
many privileges in prison, being allowed to
celebrate the Holy Sacrifice daily in his cell. It
was during his imprisonment that he sought
admission into the Society of Jesus.

As his sufferings increased, so did his con-
tentment, and whenever anyone brought him

50 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

news that he was to be racked or have more
iron chains laid on him, he rewarded the bearer
of the tidings to the best of his power. When
Blessed J. Storey was about to be executed,
Father Woodhouse offered his life in his stead.

After an imprisonment of eleven years, he
received sentence of death. On the way back to
Newgate from the Guildhall, when one struck
him rudely on the face, he said :

" Would to God I might for thee suffer ten
times as much that thou mightest go free for
the blow thou hast given me. I forgive thee and
pray God to forgive thee, even as I would be
forgiven."

At Tyburn, when the Sheriff told him there
was yet time to repent, and ordered him to ask
pardon of God. the Queen, and the country, he
answered :

" Nay, I, on the part of God, demand of you
and the Queen that you ask pardon of God, and
of Mother Church, because, contrary to the
truth, you have resisted Christ the Lord, and
the Pope, His Vicar on earth."

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 51

JUNE iQTH, 1535.

BLESSED WILLIAM EXMEW, Carthusian
Priest.

BLESSED HUMPHREY MIDDLEMORE,
Carthusian Priest.

BLESSED SEBASTIEN NEWDIGATE,
Carthusian Priest.

THESE three young Carthusian Monks were of
noble birth, and of great piety and learning. The
first was Vicar of the London Charterhouse,
BLESSED HUMPHREY MIDDLEMOREwas
Procurator ; he belonged to an ancient Warwick-
shire family. BLESSED SEBASTIEN NEW-
DIGATE was the son of the Lord of Harefield
Manor, Middlesex. He was reared at the Court
of the King, and later, when confined in the
Marshalsea and the Tower, Henry VIII visited
him in the hope of winning him over.

Within a few weeks after the martyrdom of
their Prior, Blessed John Houghton, they were
all three seized for refusing to take the Oath of
the Royal Supremacy. They were cast into a
dark and filthy dungeon in the Marshalsea Prison,
and for a fortnight were bound in an upright
position to posts or columns by iron chains
fastened round their necks and legs. It being
supposed they would now submit to the King's
will, they were taken separately to be examined

52 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

before the Council, and the Oath was again
proffered to them. With unswerving courage
each one refused to act in any way contrary to
the laws and traditions of Holy Church. They
were thereupon found guilty and sentenced to
be hanged, drawn and quartered as traitors.
They went forth from the Council with glad
hearts and faces, rejoicing to be accounted worthy
to suffer for the Name of Jesus. Their desire to
receive Holy Communion before they died was
denied them.

JUNE 20TH, 1679.

VEN. THOMAS WHITEBREAD, Provincial
S.J.

VEN. JOHN FENWICK, Priest, S.J.
YEN. WILLIAM HARCOURT, Priest, S.J.
VEN. JOHN GAVAN, Priest, S.J.
VEN. ANTONY TURNER, Priest, S.J.

SOON after VEN. THOMAS WHITEBREAD
had been elected Provincial of the Society of
Jesus, in England, he made a visitation to his
brethren at Liege, and preached to them at the
renovation of their Vows on St. James' Day on
the text ' Potestis bibere calicem quern ego
bibiturus sum ? Dicunt ei possumus." It was as
if he had already foreseen the storm of perse-
cution that broke out two months later at the

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 53

instigation of Gates and his associates. Father
Whitebread was labouring under a severe illness
when he was apprehended on the charge of being
concerned in the imaginary Plot, and imprisoned
and loaded with chains.

YEN. JOHN FENWICK, or CALDWELL,
one of his four companions who shared his im-
prisonment, trial and martyrdom, had been dis-
owned by his family on becoming a convert.
He was procurator for his brethren and a most
diligent toiler in Christ's vineyard.

YEN. WILLIAM HARCOURT had worked
upon the Mission 35 years, and was seventy-
two years of age. He was rector of London at
the time he met the glorious fate for which he
had daily prayed. It was on a Friday the five
Jesuits gained their Calvary and the joys of
Paradise.

YEN. JOHN GAY AN and YEN. ANTONY
TURNER both laboured with great zeal and
success on the English mission, the one for a
period of eight years, the other for eighteen
years, most of which time was passed in Wor-
cestershire.

54 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE
JUNE 23RD, 1592.

VEN.fROBERT, or ROGER ASHTON, Lay-
man.

THE biithplace of this Martyr was Croston, in
Lancashire. He was martyred at Tyburn for
procuring a dispensation from Rome to marry
his second cousin, thereby acknowledging the
authority of the Holy Apostolic See in all matters
spiritual.

JUNE 23RD, 1608.
YEN. THOMAS GARNET, Priest, SJ.

His father dedicated him to God from his
birth. He studied at St. Omer's and later at
Valladolid, where he was made priest and from
whence he was sent on the English mission.
He was soon apprehended on suspicion of being
implicated in the Gunpowder Plot, and com-
mitted to the Tower where, for many months, he
had no other bed than the bare ground, whereby
he contracted severe sciatica. He had long desired
to enter the Society of Jesus, and the sentence
of banishment now gave him the opportunity
of making his novitiate at Louvain. On return-
ing from beyond the seas, contrary to the penal
statute, he was betrayed by an apostate priest.
His friends urged him to try to escape from

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 55

prison, and suggested some opportunities, but a
more persuasive voice spoke in his heart, say-
ing : Noli fugere- ' Do not run away." Hence-
forth his one fear was lest he should be deprived
of the crown of martyrdom which he won at
the age of 34. His last words were those of the
Veni Creator, " sermone ditans guttura."

JUNE 28xH, 1654.
YEN. JOHN SOUTHWORTH, Secular Priest.

HE was born in Lancashire and was a younger son
of an ancient and once wealthy family. Educated
at Douai, he became an alumnus and priest of
that House. His missionary labours were at first
in his native county. After some years he was
taken and condemned, but was reprieved and
kept a close prisoner in Lancaster Castle. Being
at length released through the influence of Queen
Henrietta Maria, he continued his devoted
labours, but was apprehended for the third time
by a pursuivant and carried off from his bed at
night. He was then 72 years old. At his trial he
refused to deny that he was a priest, though
the Court assured him that if he did so his life
would be spared, for they were most reluctant
to pass judgement against him. The magistrate
is said to have been so overcome by tears that

56 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

it was long before he could pronounce the sen-
tence which he professed the law compelled him
to give.

In thunder, lightning and rain, the Martyr
was brought to Tyburn, but the storm did not
prevent many thousands of people, many in
coaches or on horseback, from being present.
In his last speech, Father South worth said, when
quoting Our Lord's words : ' Qui vult venire
post me. . . . tollat suam et sequatur me,' this
gallows I look on as His Cross, which I gladly
take up to follow my dear Saviour."

JUNE 30TH, 1646.
YEN. PHILIP POWEL, Priest, O.S.B.

' He was of princely race, of British blood,
Nor yet the twentieth part so great as good

.... his hands to every poor
Most open till they blushed to ask for more,
Most temperate, and most constant to his
Christ."

HE was born in Brecknockshire, and began his
studies in Abergavenny. When sixteen years old
he came to London to study law under Father
Augustine Baker, but being sent on business to
Douai, he found his true vocation, and received
the habit of St. Benedict. On returning to
England after his ordination, he laboured for

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 57

twenty years as a missionary. Then the Civil
War broke out, and he was taken prisoner, un-
justly tried, and sentenced to death. He received
the announcement with a " Deo gratias," adding
that owing to the crowd he could not thank God
on his knees, yet he did so in his heart. He was
given the choice of the day on which he was to
die, but he refused to be in any way guilty of his
own death. When he was told the day was fixed,
he said : ; Welcome whatever conies, God's
Name be praised ! What am I that God thus
honours me, and will have me die for His Sake ! "
" This is the happiest day and the greatest
joy that ever befel me," Father Powel said at
Tyburn, " for I am brought hither for no other
cause or reason . . . than that I am a Roman
Catholic priest, and a monk of the Order of St.
Benedict.

JULY IST, 1616.
YEN. THOMAS MAXFIELD, Secular Priest.

HE was born in Staffordshire of a distinguished
family of that county. His chief studies were
made abroad, and he began to work on the
Mission in England in 1615. After exercising
the apostolate for barely three months he was
apprehended, and there ensued a period of

E

58 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

ill-treatment, which only ended with his death
on the gibbet. The most inhuman of the tor-
tures inflicted on him was his confinement in a
pair of stocks so contrived that his body could
find no relief either by standing upright or
lying down. The darkness and filth of the dungeon
where he was placed added to his sufferings.
Before his trial he had the consolation of recon-
ciling to God two from among a gang of felons
who were also awaiting the death sentence.
When Father Maxfield was brought to the place
of sacrifice, whither he was accompanied by a
multitude on horse and foot, the gallows were
found to be adorned with garlands of fragrant
flowers, and the ground strewn with sweet-
smelling herbs and branches of bay and laurel.
TheMartyr, feeble and emaciated by eight months
of confinement and torture, but no less cheerful
than he had ever been hitherto, rejoiced to be
* a member of that blessed house of Douai that
hath afforded our poor barren country so much
good and happy seed."

His remains were thrown into a pit under
fifteen other bodies, two of which were those of
felons executed a month before. This, however,
did not deter his devoted friends of the Spanish
Embassy from coming by night to rescue his
mangled body.

!6le00eD ate tfjep tfcat suffer
Persecution,

1Dere 3D. liver flMunfcet, Qvimate ot all

3relanfc, eeeWns bie bunteD sbeep on tbe

mountainside, connrmetb tbeir fainting

sonls witb tbe cbrism of salvation*

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 59

JULY IST, 1 68 1.

YEN. OLIVER PLUNKET, Archbishop of
Armagh.

THE last victim of the " Popish Plot " was, in
his boyhood, sent to Rome to be educated. For
some time he lived with the Fathers of the
Oratory ; subsequently, on the See of Armagh
falling vacant, the Holy Father appointed him
Archbishop, and Plunket gladly returned to
his country, lately devastated by Cromwell's
hordes. He ordained clergy, put down abuses,
built schools and administered confirmation
to thousands in the woods and on the mountains.
He was often forced to go in disguise, and the
episcopal palace of the successor of St. Patrick
was no more than a thatched cottage. When
the persecution broke out afresh, at the insti-
gation of Titus Oates, much of his work was
undone, and he was delivered to his enemies
by apostate priests, who afterwards bore false
witness against him. He was sent to London,
and after eighteen months in prison underwent
a most unjust trial. He received the death sen-
tence with a joyous ' Deo gratias." His last
days were spent in earnest but tranquil prepar-
ation for the final sacrifice. His devoted friend
and confessor, Father Corker, wrote of him.

6o THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

that his joy seemed to increase with his danger
and was fully accomplished by an assurance
of death. The saintly white-haired Primate of
all Ireland was drawn to Tyburn in his ponti-
fical robes, and laid down his life for his sheep
" with a courage fearless of death."

JULY 6iH, 1585.

YEN. THOMAS ALFIELD, Secular Priest.
YEN. THOMAS WEBLEY, Layman.

YEN. THOMAS ALFIELD was born in
Gloucester. He was ordained at Rheims, and
after his return to the English Mission he found
means to import into the kingdom some copies
of Dr. Allen's " Modest Answer to the English
Persecutors." This was in reply to a book sup-
posed to have been written by Cecil, Lord
Treasurer, in which he attempted to falsely
persuade the world that the Catholics who had
suffered in England since the Queen's accession
to the throne, had not suffered for religion but
for treason.

Father Alfield circulated Dr. Allen's " An-
swers " by the help of THOMAS WEBLEY,
a dyer. Both priest and layman were soon called
to account for the part they had taken, and were
most cruelly tortured in the attempt to make

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 61

them reveal the names of the persons to whom
the books had been distributed. They were
brought to trial and suffered at Tyburn on the
day following their condemnation. Both had
their lives offered to them if they would renounce
the Pope and acknowledge Queen Elizabeth to
be the head of the Church. They cheerfully
chose martyrdom rather than listen to such
conditions.

JULY I4TH, 1679.
YEN. RICHARD LANGHORNE, Layman.

A BARRISTER and a zealous Catholic, Langhorne
was one of the first victims of Titus Gates and
his associates, being impeached by them as a
ringleader in their pretended plot, and especially
as conspiring to kill the King. After more than
eight months' close imprisonment in Newgate,
he was tried, and false witnesses having been
called, he was condemned with Father White-
bread, the English Provincial, and the other
four Jesuit Fathers who were his companions.

He declared on the scaffold at Tyburn, that
not only a pardon, but many preferments and
estates had been offered to him if he would for-
sake his religion.

As the hangman was placing the rope round
his neck, he took it into his hands and kissed it.

62 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

Crossing himself, he prayed : ' Blessed Jesus,
into Thy hands I commend my soul and spirit,
now at this instant take me into Paradise. I am
desirous to be with my Jesus."

JULY 26TH, 1641.
YEN. WILLIAM WARD, Secular Priest.

His real name was Webster, and he was born
at Thornley, in Westmoreland. At the time of
his martyrdom he was eighty years old, and was
the first priestly victim of the Long Parliament.
He had toiled twelve years on the English Mission
and had spent nearly double that time in various
prisons. He was also banished several times.

On first landing on the coast of Scotland on
his return from Douai, he was thrust into a
totally dark underground dungeon for three
years. Father Ward belonged to the Third Order
of St. Francis, and was a great lover of poverty,
and austere both towards himself and towards
those he directed, by whom, however, he was
much loved. He had always had a great de-
votion to the Mother of Our Blessed Lady,
inviting all his penitents who bore her name to
join him in keeping her solemn feast. It was on
St. Anne's Day that he obtained the favour of
laying down his life for Christ. On that morning
one of his friends brought him a new coat.

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 63

You are right to dress me better than usual,"
he said, " since I am going to a more splendid
banquet and a more joyful wedding than any at
which I have ever been present."

" If God had given me a thousand lives," he
said on the scaffold, ' I should deem myself
happy to sacrifice them all for my priesthood
and the Catholic Church." Told that he was
being put to death for seducing the people,
" Would to God," he exclaimed, " I had con-
verted more. Nay, even all England ! '

JULY 3 IST, 1581.
BLESSED EVERARD HANSE, Secular Priest.

HE was born in Northamptonshire, and brought
up as a Protestant. At a time when he had fallen
ill in the midst of his fame as a popular preacher,
he was converted to the Catholic religion. On
his recovery he entered the English Seminary
at Rheims, returning to England after his ordin-
ation. His apostolate only lasted a few weeks.
One day, when visiting prisoners for the Faith
in the Marshalsea, he was apprehended on
suspicion of being a seminary priest, some spies
having noticed that his boots were of foreign
manufacture. He was cast into a dungeon in
Newgate with thieves and felons, and there laden
with heavy chains.

64 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

The day before he offered the sacrifice of his
life, he wrote to his brother : ' I pray you be
careful for my parents. . . my prayers shall
not be wanting to aid you by God's grace. Give
thanks to God for all that He hath sent ; cast
not yourself into dangers wilfully, but pray to
God, when occasion is offered, you may take it
with patience. The comforts at the present
moment are unspeakable, the dignity too high
for a sinner, but God is merciful. Bestow my
things you find ungiven away upon my poor
kinsfolk. . . . Have me commended to my
friends, let them think I will not forget them.
The day and hour of my birth is at hand. . . ."

In the anguish of a most cruel death, the
Martyr was heard to cry : " O happy day ! '

AUGUST 4TH, 1540.

BLESSED WILLIAM HORNE, Carthusian
Lay Brother.

YEN. EDMUND BRINDHOLM, Secular
Priest.

YEN. CLEMENT PHILPOT, Layman.

BLESSED WILLIAM HORNE was one of
the ten Carthusians of the London Charterhouse
who, on refusing to sign the Oath of the King's
supremacy, were dragged to Newgate and there

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 65

treated with inhuman cruelty. He and his com-
panions, three Priests, one Deacon, and five
Lay Brothers, were rivetted by means of heavy
fetters fastened to their necks and legs, to the
walls and columns of their dungeon. Their
hands were bound behind them, and they were
thus left to perish of starvation. From this fate
they were saved for a time by the courageous
charity of Blessed Thomas More's adopted
daughter, Margaret Clement, who came to
minister to and feed them at the risk of her life.
When she could do this no longer, the valiant
confessors laid down their lives one by one till
William Home alone survived. Some time later
he was taken from prison to Tyburn there to
consummate his sacrifice and share his triumph
with Father BRINDHOLM and CLEMENT
PHILPOT. He was the last of the fifteen sons
of Blessed John Houghton, who followed him
along the road to martyrdom.

66 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

AUGUST 24TH, 1601.

YEN. NICHOLAS TICHBOURNE, Layman.
YEN. THOMAS HACKSHOT, Layman.

YEN. NICHOLAS TICHBOURNE was
born at Hartley, in Hampshire. He was related
to Yen. Thomas Tichbourne, Priest, martyred
at Tyburn a year later. Father Tichbourne owed
this extra time of his apostolate to the self-
sacrificing devotion of his kinsman and of Thomas
Hackshot, who laid down their lives in his
stead, being condemned for having assisted in
rescuing him.

YEN. THOMAS HACKSHOT was born at
Mursley, in Buckinghamshire. His part in the
matter was this : Knowing that the holy prisoner
was to be conducted through a certain street by
a single keeper, he awaited their coming, and
knocking down the officer, gave the priest the
opportunity to escape. Being less careful of his
own safety, he was seized and cast into the
dungeon which the priest had just vacated.
There he endured diverse torments, till at
length he was brought to trial and sentenced to
die for the same cause of Christian charity with
Nicholas Tichbourne.

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 67

AUGUST 30TH, 1588.

YEN. RICHARD LEIGH, Secular Priest.
YEN. EDWARD SHELLEY, Layman.
YEN. RICHARD MARTIN, Layman.
YEN. RICHARD FLOWER, Layman.
YEN. JOHN ROCHE, Layman.
YEN. MARGARET WARD, Gentlewoman.

YEN. R. LEIGH was martyred for the sole
cause of his priesthood, and his companions
either for being reconciled to the Church or
for assisting and relieving priests.

It was for this latter offence that MARGARET
WARD was condemned. Hearing that Father
Watson was suffering cruel torments in Bride-
well, where no one ventured to succour him, she
found means, by making friends with the jailor's
wife, to give him food and finally procured
him a rope by which he made his escape. She
was at once apprehended, imprisoned and
loaded with irons. She was moreover hung by
the hands and cruelly scourged, all of which
sufferings she accepted as preludes to the
martyrdom by which she hoped with the grace
of God to be honoured. When brought to trial,
she said that never in her life had she done any-
thing of which she repented less, that death for
such a cause would be very welcome to her, and

68 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

that she was willing to lay down not one life only,
but many if she had them. She showed to the
end an unswerving constancy.

SEPTEMBER 7TH, 1644.

YEN. RALPH CORBY, Priest, S.J.
YEN. JOHN DUCKETT, Secular Priest.

WHILE yet a student at Douai, RALPH CORBY
was much given to mental prayer, passing long
nights in heavenly communications. He be-
longed to a very religious family. His father and
two brothers became Jesuits, and his mother
and two sisters entered the Order of St. Benedict.
In the second year after Ralph Corby's icturn
to England, when on his way to baptize two
children, he was captured by some Parliament
soldiers and committed to prison on account of
his priesthood. He was sent to London to be
tried at the same time as John Duckett.

YEN. JOHN DUCKETT was born at Under-
winder, in Yorkshire, in 1613, and was made
priest in 1639. It was on the Feast of the Visi-
tation of Our Lady that he was apprehended.
He was taken to London, together with Father
Corby, and the two confessors, having been
condemned, were taken back to prison to " wait
for that blessed and happy Saturday which is

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 69

the Vigil of Her glorious nativity." When hopes
were given that the life of one of them might be
saved, neither was willing to accept the offer at
the expense of the other. Ven. John Duckett
had often testified that " ever since he was a
priest he did much fear to live but nothing fear
to die." Arrived at Tyburn, the Martyrs em-
braced each other and kissed the rope and
gallows, dying most joyfully for the love of their
Saviour and for the cause of their religion. John
Duckett was thirty, and Ralph Corby forty-six
years of age.

OCTOBER STH, 1586.

VEN. JOHN ADAMS, Secular Priest.

VEN. JOHN LOWE, Secular Priest.

VEN. RICHARD DIBDALE, Secular Priest.

THESE three Martyrs were condemned and
suffered martyrdom by reason of their priestly
character and for exercising their sacred func-
tions. The first was born in Dorsetshire.

VEN. JOHN LOWE was a Londoner. He
was a convert and had been a Protestant Minister.

VEN. RICHARD DIBDALE was born in
Worcestershire. He practised the office of an
exorcist, and delivered and reconciled to the

70 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

Church many possessed persons who, by for-
saking their religion, had fallen into the power
of the Evil One. He forced the devils to confess
to their confusion the virtue which is contained
in the Sign of the Cross, Holy Water, and the
relics, both of the ancient saints and of the Mar-
tyrs who suffered in England in those days for
the Catholic Faith.

OCTOBER I2TH, 1642.

YEN. THOMAS (JOHN BAPTIST) BULL-
AKER, Priest, O.F.M.

HE was born at Chichester, in Sussex, in 1604.
His life was given to God from the first. At
the age of eighteen he obtained permission from
his father to become a missionary priest. He
is described as a tall, handsome youth, grave,
modest and remarkably like the pictures of Our
Lord.

After studying for a short time at a Jesuit
College, at Valladolid, Bullaker became con-
vinced that his vocation lay rather in the Order
of St. Francis. He was ordained in time as a
Franciscan priest, and soon after he begged a
secular dress and set off on foot to Bordeaux,
landing in England without a penny. He laboured
and endured many hardships on the mission
for eleven years, and was finally seized, by the

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 71

apostate Wadsworth, while saying Mass. His
hostess and her little son were likewise taken
by the pursuivants. At his trial, when he was
called a traitor and seducer of the people, he
said : ' Now you give me occasion to rejoice,
because you treat me with the same title as the
Jews did my Saviour."

Sentenced to be taken on a hurdle to Tyburn,
there to be hanged, cut down and beheaded,
Father Bullaker knelt and recited the Te Deum.
To one who informed him in prison of the early
date of his death, he said : ' I thank you
heartily, my friend, for this long desired and
joyful news. Believe me, were it not for my
great poverty, I would not send you away
empty-handed."

From the scaffold he preached with his dying
lips of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. '

NOVEMBER 27111, 1633.
YEN. ARTHUR McGEOGHAN, Priest, O.P.

HAVING completed his studies in Spain, he was
seized when returning to his Province, and cast
into prison in London by English heretics. He
was brought to trial under a malicious pretext,
and condemned to death. At Tyburn he made
open profession of being a Catholic and a

72 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

Dominican, and, with a fearless countenance,
met his end praying : ' O thou glorious Virgin,
Mother of Our God and Saviour, pray to thy
Son Jesus Christ to receive my soul."

He was hanged, and while still alive his limbs
were cut asunder.

His judge, Falkland, Viceroy of Ireland,
suffered the penalty of the unjust sentence, as
he himself was led to acknowledge when his
leg was broken in an extraordinary way.

After the martyrdom, an enquiry was held
at the wish of Queen Henrietta Maria, the
result of which was that Charles I caused
placards to be posted, on which it was stated
that Father McGeoghan had been unjustly
accused and condemned, and those responsible
for the crime were held up to scorn.

DECEMBER IST, 1581.

BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION, Priest,
S.J.

BLESSED RALPH SHERWIN, Secular Priest.

BLESSED ALEXANDER BRIANT, Priest,
SJ.

A PLAY on the name of the first of these Martyrs
described exactly what he was the Pope's
C(h)ampion. Nothing could daunt his valour,
neither promises of worldly gain, the basest

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 73

calumny, public ridicule, the exquisite torture
of the rack, none of these things, which were in
turn applied to break his spirit, succeeded. It is
true he had consented to be made a deacon
after the new manner when he was at Oxford,
but his repentance for this momentary weak-
ness was so strong that it won for him his
vocation to the Priesthood in the Society of
Jesus, and was a powerful incentive to be true
to the Faith ever after. It was in accordance
with Dr. Allan's advice that he embraced the
perilous mission of re-evangelising his own
country, and it was by a series of hairbreadth
escapes that he carried forward an apostolate of
marvellous fruitfulness. His natural gifts stood
him in good stead ; he had the wit and elo-
quence that had led to his fall in the days when
he cared for a Queen's praise ; now he devoted
all his talents to the Heavenly Master, hoping
for no sweeter reward than that which was granted
to him at the age of forty- two. After suffering
such cruel torments in prison that it was feared
the rack-men had gone too far and the gallows
would be deprived of a prey, he was neverthe-
less found in a state of calm cheerfulness on the
day of execution.

When his turn came, BLESSED RALPH
SHERWIN kissed with great devotion the blood

F

74 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

of Edmund Campion dripping from the hands
of the executioners. Like Campion, it was asked
of him very expressly whom he meant when he
prayed for and forgave the Queen. He replied :
" Yea, for Elizabeth Queen, I now at this instant
pray my Lord God. ... He died with the
cry on his lips : ' Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, be to me a
Jesus."

BLESSED ALEXANDER BRIANT. The
third of these Priests, who the night before had
heard one another's confessions in prison, im-
mediately followed the other two on the fatal
cart. His martyrdom was even more cruel owing
to the negligence of the hangman, and also to
the inhuman efforts of those who, when he was
in his last extremity, endeavoured to make him
recant. Again the question was put : " What of
the sovereignty of the Queen ? ' He declared
that being a true Catholic he fully accepted the
Bull of Pius V, by which the Queen was
formally excommunicated. He then began the
* Miserere * and yielded up his soul to God
after long torments."

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 75

DECEMBER 3RD, 1678.
YEN. EDWARD COLEMAN, Layman.

HE was a minister's son, and was born in
Suffolk and educated at Cambridge. Afterwards
he became a zealous convert. The Duchess of
York made him her secretary, and he was thus
enabled to procure more liberty of conscience
for Catholics and to stand them in good stead
in many ways. At the outbreak of the Titus
Gates Plot, some letters he had written to Pere
La Chaise, the French King's confessor, were
seized, and he was brought to trial charged with
plotting against the King's life, raising rebellion
in Ireland, etc. Gates and Bedloe further de-
clared he had received a commission ' from
the General of the Jesuits " to be secretary of
State. When it was objected that there were
many contradictions in his evidence, Gates
complained that he had undergone great fatigue
for two days and two nights in the pursuit after
Jesuits, and this had so exhausted him that he
did not know what he said.

Edward Coleman denied all that was sworn
against him, protesting his innocence with his
last breath. He died having done all in his power
to help the cause of religion,

76 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

DECEMBER 5TH, 1612.
YEN. JOHN ALMOND, Secular Priest.

HE was born at Allerton, near Liverpool, and
made his theological studies at Rheims and
Rome, returning to England a priest. Being
condemned for this cause, he was drawn from
Newgate to Tyburn between seven and eight
o'clock in the morning on December 5th, 1612.
His first act at the place of execution was to take
off his hat and bless God with a loud voice for
holding him worthy to die for His Name and
His Glory. He then turned to the Sheriff and
asked him simply what he was to do. He was
told to get into the cart standing under the
Tree. This he did with difficulty owing to the
ill-treatment he had received and his long im-
prisonment. He then told the bystanders how
he had come there to die for Christ's cause, and
how glad and willing he was to lose his life for
His honour, regretting nothing but that he had
no more lives to lose nor more blood to shed for
his blessed Redeemer. He placed all his hopes
in God, confident that He would strengthen
him with His power. At no time did Father
Almond show signs of fear or faint-heartedness ;
he possessed to the end the same smiling
serenity with which he had set out on the hurdle.

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 77

He desired the executioner to make known to
him when the cart was to be drawn away that
he might die with the sweet Name of Jesus on
his lips.

The Protestant Bishop of London, who was
one of the chief promoters of the Martyr's
condemnation, is believed to have received the
grace to die in the communion of the Holy
Catholic Church.

DECEMBER IOTH, 1591.

YEN. POLYDORE PLASDEN, Secular Priest.
YEN. EUSTACE WHITE, Secular Priest.
YEN. SYDNEY HODSON, Layman.
YEN. BRYAN LACEY, Layman.
YEN. JOHN MASON, Layman.

BEING brought to Tyburn, the two priests were
the first to yield up their lives. They had all
been captured at the Mass said by Father
Gennings in the house of Yen. Swithin Wells,
who with Father Gennings was martyred at
Gray's Inn Fields.

At Tyburn, when pressed by specious ques-
tions as to whether he would defend the Queen
against the Pope, POLYDORE PLASDEN re-
plied : ' I am a Catholic priest, therefore I
would never fight, nor counsel others to fight

78 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

against my religion, for that we.re to deny my
faith. O Christ," said he, looking up to heaven,
and kissing the rope " I will never deny Thee
for a thousand lives." He was thereupon
hanged as a traitor.

FATHER WHITE, who was the next to
follow him, had already suffered much while
in Bridewell under the power of the inhuman
Topcliffe, being once hung by the hands in iron
manacles for eight hours in the effort to induce
him to reveal the names of those in whose houses
he had said Mass. No torture, however, could
wring from him any other words than * Lord,
more pain if Thou pleasest and more patience."

YEN. SYDNEY HODSON, BRYAN LACEY
and JOHN MASON, the three laymen, who
were their companions, were martyred for
having assisted and defended priests.

DECEMBER IOTH, 1610.

YEN. JOHN ROBERTS, Priest, O.S.B.
YEN. THOMAS SOMERS, Secular Priest.

YEN. JOHN ROBERTS was born in Merion-
ethshire in Wales, and received his education
abroad, passing successively from Rheims to
Rome and thence to Spain, where he entered
the Order of St. Benedict. His apostolic zeal and

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 79

devotion was put to the proof, especially at the
time of the Great Plague, when equally fearless
of the persecutors and of the infection, he gave
himself up entitely to ministering to the souls
and bodies of those afflicted. He was apprehended
at Mass on the first Sunday of Advent, 1610,
and was taken to prison in his priestly vestments.
Being brought to Tyburn, he rejoiced to see
that, like his Master, he was to die among thieves
and almost the last words he spoke were words
of encouragement and absolution. The spirit of
peace and joy that characterised him at all times
was manifest to all who witnessed the manner
in which he suffered. Two days after his
martyrdom his precious remains were dug out
of the pit where they had been thrown ; a part
of these relics were taken to Douai, and one arm
was sent to the Abbey of St. Martin at Compos-
tella, where he had made profession and re-
ceived Holy Orders ten years before.

Hiscompanioninmartyrdom, VEN. THOMAS
SOMERS, had dedicated his labours to poor
Catholics with such zealous love as to be com-
monly known as the parish priest of London.
He was born in Westmoreland and spent part
of his early manhood teaching in a grammar
school in his native countv. He counselled

^

many a youth to join the students of the English

8o THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

College at Douai, and when the opportunity
occurred he himself went to Douai and in due
time became a missionary priest. In this capacity
his work in England lasted but four years.

DECEMBER IITH, 1643.

YEN. ARTHUR (FRANCIS) BELL, Priest,
O.F.M.

HE was born near Worcester, and received his
early education almost entirely from his mother.
At the age of 24 he left England to study for the
priesthood. It was during the time of the Civil
Wars that Father Bell, after labouring on the
Mission for nine years, was apprehended by
the Parliament soldiers on suspicion of being a
spy. They searched him and found among other
papers, a form for blessing the cord of St.
Francis, and this they imagined was a spell. He
was stripped of sword, money and clothes, and
clad in an old tattered soldier's coat, and thus
carried on horseback to London as an object of
derision in every town and village through which
he passed.

Father Bell had been in Newgate twenty-four
hours when he received a letter telling him of
his election as Guardian of the Convent at
Douai, which office had been vacant since the
martyrdom of Father Heath.

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 81

At his trial he returned hearty thanks to his
accusers, saying : c I shall most willingly and
with the greatest joy die with Christ and His
Apostles and Martyrs, my cause being the same
as theirs. " His face bore witness to the sweet-
ness and serenity of his soul. On coming to
Tyburn he said : " Now I see verified in me
what was foretold by happy Thomas Bullaker,"
for that Martyr had said before winning his own
crown a year ago : ' God will have me to go
first, but you shall soon follow me."

Father Bell was left to hang for the space of a
Miserere. Under his secular coat was found
the habit of his Order.

DECEMBER I2TH, 1642.
YEN. THOMAS HOLLAND, Priest, SJ.

HE was born in Lancashire, and sent over while
still very young, to the English College at St.
Omer's, and from thence to Valladolid, being
finally ordained priest at Liege. For some time
he was minister at the house of the Jesuits at
Ghent. After he had pronounced his vows, he
was sent upon the Mission in the hope that the
change would restore his health.

A strict search for priests was being made at

82 MARTYRS OF TYBURN

the time, and he was forced to lie in close con-
finement, scarcely venturing to walk in the
garden of the house that sheltered him. Under
cover of darkness and disguise, he contrived to
serve many souls, especially among the poor.
At length he was apprehended and sentenced
to die, to which he calmly responded : ' Deo
Gratias."

At Tyburn he heartily thanked God for being
the first of the Society of Jesus to be condemned
to death under that Parliament. He yielded up
his life praying for the royal family, the parlia-
ment, and the whole nation," for whose pros-
perity and conversion to the Catholic Faith,"
he said, " if I had as many lives as there are
hairs on my head, drops of water in the ocean,
or stars in the firmament, I would most willingly
sacrifice them all." These words were greeted
with a shout of applause from the crowd.

Of the Martyr's character it is said " that he
had extraordinary talents for promoting the
greater glory of God, and that he made an extra-
ordinary use of them."

SMALL GUIDE FOR A VISIT TO THE
ORATORY OF THE ENGLISH MARTYRS

ENEATH the Chapel of Perpetual Ex-
I position at Tyburn Convent is the Oratory
of the English Martyrs, the memorial shrine
of one hundred and five priests, religious, lay-
men and women, who laid down their lives at
Tyburn in defence of the Catholic Faith.

The Oratory is found on the left on entering
the hall. Visitors are admitted on applying to
the portress, and may thus make a closer in-
spection of the reredos and the paintings than
is possible through the grilled door. The
precious contents of the reliquaries on the walls
especially invite examination. They are the chief
treasure of this little shrine, and explain its
existence. Gratitude towards those whom they
recall has inspired several anonymous bene-
factors to complete what the Nuns had begun
in coming to Tyburn. They accordingly offered
to decorate the Oratory in honour of the
Martyrs who shed their blood within a few yards
of this very spot, and one of the first effects of

84 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

their undertaking was the erection over the altar
of a

REPLICA OF TYBURN GALLOWS.

r

On the beams of the gallows are inscribed
the last words of Ven. Henry Heath : " Jesus,
convert England ! Jesus have mercy on this
country " (now the daily prayer of the Guild of
Our Lady of Ransom), and the dying cry of Bl.
Thomas Forde and other victims of the Triple
Tree : " Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, esto mihi, Jesus '
(Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, be to me a Jesus !) Two
relics of Father Heath will be found encased on
the walls.

At the back of the Altar, setting off the
Gallows, hangs a curtain embroidered with
palms and crowns, above which are emblazoned
the Arms of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland,
Oxford and Cambridge. It is the work of the boys
of St. Joseph's School of Arts and Crafts at the
Benedictine Abbey of Maredsous. By them
were also wrought the six jewelled lamps that
hang from the beams of " Tyburn Tree," while
an example of their skill in carving is shewn in
the oaken reredos.

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 85

REREDOS.

It contains seven exquisite statuettes repre-
senting Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs, and six of
the principal Beati who died at Tyburn. They
have been chosen as typical of the various classes
and orders found in their ranks. Taking the
figures in order, starting from the left, they are,
first that of YEN. THOMAS SHERWOOD, a
young layman cruelly tortured before his execu-
tion during the Elizabethan persecution. The
Order of the Privy Council still exists by which
he was officially consigned to the dungeon
" among the rats " in the Tower of London
Harrison Ainsworth, it will be remembered,
describes this place of torment in his novel The
Tower of London he stands tied to a post while
two great rats tear his flesh.

The next figure is that of BLESSED ED-
MUND CAMPION, S.J., writing his famous
book, Decem Rationes, with which he shook first
Oxford, and then all the realm. He suffered
unspeakable torments in prison before rack gave
place to rope and knife, and Tyburn ended his
martyrdom. He was famous for the sanctity of
his life, his wit and the sweetness of his dis-
position.

The third figure is that of the Proto -martyr
BLESSED JOHN HOUGHTON, Prior of the

86 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

London Charterhouse. He is shown vested for
Mass, holding in his hands a Chalice, while at
his feet are laid branches of palm. It was while
celebrating the Mass of the Holy Ghost that he
and his monks were supernaturally confirmed
in their resolution to endure death rather than
fail in obedience to the Holy See. This famous
Mass is the subject of one of the paintings in
the Oratory.

THE QUEEN OF MARTYRS occupies the
central position among these worthy followers
of Her Son. She is represented with the Crown
of Thorns clasped to her heart, a majestic figure
of woe, recalling in pose and drapery a well-
known Madonna at Wurzburg.

On her left stands BLESSED SEBASTIAN
NEWDIGATE, the Carthusian monk, shown
fettered in an upright position as he was for
fifteen long days in the Marshalsea Prison.

Next to him is BLESSED RICHARD REY-
NOLDS, " the Angel of Syon," in the Brigittine
habit, a lily growing before him to signify the
spotless purity of his life.

The last figure is that of BLESSED RALPH
SHERWIN, a secular Priest, vested in a Roman
Chasuble and holding St. Peter's keys in token
of the cause for which he died so joyously. His
singujarly beautiful face, is youngj and ardent,

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 87

THE STAINED-GLASS WINDOWS

designed and executed by Miss Margaret Rope,
illustrate, by scenes from the lives of the Martyrs:

(1) The Eight Beatitudes ; and

(2) The Corporal Works of Mercy.

(i) At the top of the window of THE BEATI-
TUDES, beneath the instruments of the
Passion and the inscription, ' * Tu Domtne plura
nobis passus es" is a medallion with the Queen
of Martyrs and another, representing the scene
on the Mount where " Christ the King of
Martyrs expoundeth to His elect servants the
blessedness of those who suffer for His love."
In the other parts of the window the Eight Beati-
tudes are illustrated. The first, by the seraphic
Martyr, Ven. Henry Heath, who, while sleeping
on a London doorstep in the snow, is being
seized by the watch and carried off to prison.
Exemplifying the blessedness of the meek, is
Blessed Thomas Woodhouse being struck on the
face on his way to Newgate. Dona Luisa de
Carvajal is represented consoling the Martyrs
in prison while she washes their feet. The subject
of the fourth Beatitude is young Alexander
Bryant. Reaching through his prison bars after
cruel racking, he " seeketh to catch in his hat
the drops of rain wherewith to slake his thirst.

"

THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

The next four Beatitudes are illustrated by
Ven. James Duckett forgiving and embracing
his betrayer on the way to Tyburn ; the monks
of the London Charterhouse singing the Mass
of the Holy Ghost in preparation for death and
being visited by divine consolations ; Ven. John
Roberts, the Benedictine, reconciling a felon
to Christ's Church beneath Tyburn gallows ;
and Ven. Oliver Plunket, Primate of All Ireland,
administering the Sacrament of Confirmation
to his hunted sheep on the mountain side.

(2) In the CORPORAL WORKS OF MERCY,
Margaret Ward is shown Visiting the Im-
prisoned." Under the words ' Clothing the
Naked," we see Ven. Nicholas Horner, a tailor,
of Smithfield, engaged on a jerkin for a priest at
the moment when the door opens and an officer
of the law comes forward to arrest him. In
another scene, Ven. Anne Lyne stands erect on
the fatal cart beneath Tyburn Tree for having
harboured a priest. Fulfilling the precept of
" Visiting the Sick," Ven. John Roberts is seen
entering a plague-stricken house. In the two
next medallions Margaret Clement is " Feeding
the Hungry," and compassionate onlookers
" Give Drink to the Thirsty " by offering a cup
of wine to Ven. Edward Morgan on the way to
the gallows. The last shows Dona Luisa de

\

Cfje IpreDictton of Cpfautn
Contient

Ibere <3re0org (Bunne, a venerable priest
conte60ina Cbvist before bi0 jufcges,
preDictetb tbat one oag a religions bouse
sball be foimfcefc at ^bnrn in bononr of
tbe

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 89

Carvajal receiving the relics of Ven. John
Roberts and Ven. Thomas Somers, which
noble Spaniards have rescued in order to give
them honourable burial.

Another medallion in this window depicts
the crowning by Our Lord in Heaven of His
Martyrs, and beneath is " The Prediction of
Tyburn Convent." The venerable Confessor
of the Faith, Father Gregory Gunne, brought
before the judges on the 8th June, 1585, is shown
making his famous prophecy that one day a reli-
gious house would be established at Tyburn.
Just above the heads of his judges a glimpse is
given of the actual Chapel of Exposition with two
Nuns in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.

PAINTINGS.

BENEDICTINE APOSTLES AND MAR-
TYRS OF ENGLAND. The Holy Patriarch of
Western Monks is surrounded by ten of his
most illustrious sons, among whom Ven. Oliver
Plunket has been included, perhaps on the
probability that he was a Benedictine Oblate as
some maintain, but principally because his
relics are preserved at Downside Abbey. He is
rightly associated with seven other glorious
Tyburn Martyrs : John Roberts, Maurus
Scot, Alban Roe, George Gervase, Thomas

G

9 o THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

Pickering, Mark Barkworth, Philip Powel, all
of whom the Church has declared Venerable.
On each side of St. Benedict are two important
figures, those of the Apostles of England St.
Gregory the Great and St. Augustine of Canter-
bury. Above is this inscription : * Ecce ego et
pueri mei," " Behold, here am I and my child-
ren," words most appropriate if we consider
what the Benedictine Order has done for
England, how many of its members died for the
faith at Tyburn, and also that this painting is
the work of a Benedictine, Dame Catherine of
St. Bride's, and that it adorns the walls of a
Convent where the Rule of St. Benedict is
followed.

THE MASS OF THE HOLY GHOST,
painted by the Hon. Mrs. Bering. Here the
Martyr, Blessed John Houghton, is seen eleva-
ting the Sacred Host while at the same time the
heavens open and the vision thus vouchsafed to
him and the Community strengthen them for
the cruel death they are preparing to face.

FOUR ANCIENT PRINTS represent the
same holy Carthusian Prior in the company of
two others equally famous, Blessed Augustine
Webster and Blessed Robert Lawrence, all of
whom suffered on the 4th May, 1535.

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 91

BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION'S por-
trait is particularly beautiful. It was specially
copied from the original at Rome, and besides
its artistic worth, it is treasured by the Tyburn
nuns as having been presented by His Em.
Cardinal Vaughan to the Community during
the first year of its residence here and only a
few weeks before his death.

Other portraits in the Oratory are those of
VEN. OLIVER PLUNKET, which always
arrests Irish visitors, BLESSED RICHARD
REYNOLDS and BLESSED JOHN FISHER.
That of VEN. PHILIP HOWARD, EARL OF
ARUNDEL, is the gift of one of his descend-
ants. Philip Howard died in prison, and the
racking and other sufferings he endured for
ten years won for him the title of Venerable,
which he shares with his grandson, Ven. William
Howard, executed in 1680 on Tower Hill.

LIST OF RELICS OF THE MARTYRS
KEPT IN THE ORATORY.

(This list is made up to the year 1916).

FIRST RELIQUARY.

From the finger of Ven. John Roberts,
Priest, O.S.B., martyred at Tyburn, Decem-
ber loth, 1610.

92 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

SECOND RELIQUARY.

From the Corporal used by Ven. John Baptist
Bullaker, O.F.M., at his last Mass and dipped
in the blood of the said Martyr (Ven. J. B.
Bullaker was martyred at Tyburn, October i2th,
1642). From the bones of Ven. Ambrose Barlow,
Priest, O.S.B., martyred at Lancaster, Septem-
ber loth, 1641.

From the bones of Ven. Thomas Somers,
Secular Priest, martyred at Tyburn, December
loth, 1610.

From the bones of Ven. John Almond, Secular
Priest, martyred at Tyburn, December 5th,
1612.

From the tibia of Ven. A. Francis Bell, O.F.M.,
martyred at Tyburn, nth December, 1643.

From the Corporal dipped in the blood of
Ven. Paul of St. Magdalen Heath, O.F.M.,
martyred at Tyburn, April lyth, 1643.

From a linen cloth dipped in the blood of an
English Martyr of whom God knows the name.

N.B. This Reliquary contains also a few
beads of the Rosary of Mary Stuart, Queen of
Scots.

THIRD RELIQUARY.

Relic of Ven. Edmund Catherick, Priest,
martyred at York, April i3th, 1642.

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 93

From the rope with which Ven. Peter Wright,
S.J., was hanged at Tyburn, May i9th, 1651.

Of Ven. John Rockwood, Priest, martyred at
York, April i3th, 1642.

Of Ven. Francis Bell, O.F.M., martyred at
Tyburn, December nth, 1643.

From the body of Ven. Oliver Plunket, Arch-
bishop of Armagh, martyred at Tyburn, July
I5th, 1681.

Blood of Ven. Philip Evans, S.J., Priest,
martyred at Cardiff, July 22nd, 1679.

Blood of Ven. Henry Heath (Paul of St.
Magdalen), O.F.M., martyred at Tyburn, April
i7th, 1643.

From the lower jaw of Ven. Thomas White-
bread, Provincial S.J., martyred at Tyburn,
June 20th, 1679.

From the lower jaw of Ven. William Andleby,
Priest, martyred at York, July 4th, 1597.

Blood of the five Jesuit Fathers martyred at
Tyburn, Friday, June 2oth, 1679, VV. John
Fenwick, John Gavan or Green, William Har-
court, Antony Turner, Thomas Whitebread
(these were victims of the infamous Titu:>
Oates).

Of Ven. Thomas Somers, Secular Priest, mar-
tyred at Tyburn, December loth, 1610.

From the heart of an English martyr which

94 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

leaped out of the fire in which it was being con-
sumed (probably Ven. Edward Morgan, Secular
Priest, martyred at Tyburn, April 26th, 1642).

From the blood-stained alb in which a Priest
of the Holden family was martyred at the Altar
at Chargley, in Lancashire.

Ven. John Wall, O.F.M., Priest, martyred in
Worcester, August 22nd, 1679.

From the skin of an English martyr found
beneath the Altar of the Benedictine Monastery
at Douai.

FOURTH RELIQUARY.

Bone of the forearm of the Ven. Thomas
Maxfield, Secular Priest, martyred at Tyburn,
July ist, 1616. This relic was the gift of His
Lordship the Bishop of Tuy, in Spain.

Portion of linen and straw stained with the
blood of the five Jesuit Martyrs (June 2Oth,
1679).

From the bones of Ven. Ambrose Barlow,
O.S.B., martyred at Lancaster, Sept. loth, 1641,

From corporal stained with the blood of Ven.
Henry (Paul of St. Magdalen) Heath, O.F.M.

From the corporal used by Ven. Thomas
(John Baptist) Bullaker, O.F.M., at his last Mass
and imbued with his blood.

From the blood of a Martyr whose name God
knows.

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 95

From a muscle of Ven. John Lockwood, Priest,
martyred at York, April i3th, 1642, aged 87.

A vertebra cut through by the executioner of
Ven. John Lockwood, P.M.

Tape from round the coffin at Douai of Ven.
John Southworth, martyred at Tyburn, June
28th, 1654.

In the same reliquary is a miniature of Ven.
William Ward, Secular Priest, martyred at
Tyburn, July 26th, 1641.

Half of a corporal used by Blessed Edmund
Campion and other holy Martyrs and Confessors
during the persecution under Elizabeth.

SOME NOTES ON TYBURN CONVENT

THE Nuns of Tyburn are under the Rule
of St. Benedict. Their Congregation is dedi-
cated to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus,
and was founded at Montmartre Mons Martyr-
um which has become the Mount of the
Sacred Heart.

Tyburn Convent dates from 1903, the
Nuns of Montmartre having been asked, on
their arrival in England, by His Eminence
Cardinal Vaughan to establish on the place
formerly called Tyburn Field a Sanctuary
in honour of the Sacred Heart and as a
memorial of the 105 Martyrs priests, re-
ligious of many Orders, laymen and women
who, from 1535 to 1681, suffered at Tyburn in
defence of the Catholic Faith and for their
fidelity to the See of Peter. The Tyburn Nuns
have the joy of thinking that this design of the
Heart of Jesus had been foreseen more than
three hundred years ago by a venerable con-
fessor of the Faith, Father Gregory Gunne, who,
dragged before the judges on June the 8th, 1585,
publicly predicted a day would come when a
Religious House would be erected at Tyburn.
Now, close to the site where formerly stood

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 97

the gallows, is the Altar of Sacrifice and the
Blessed Sacrament is perpetually exposed.

Tyburn draws daily many Catholics and
even non- Catholics to the feet of the King of
Martyrs. Moreover a triduum with special
sermons is held every year preparatory to the
Feast of the Blessed English Martyrs (May 4th)
which is solemnly celebrated at Tyburn.
Another triduum in honour of Blessed Cuthbert
Mayne and Blessed Edmund Campion is held
from November 2Qth to December ist. On the
last Sunday in April the Walk from Newgate
to Tyburn ' takes place when many hundreds
of pilgrims come in devout procession along
the once-time Way of Sorrows on which the
Martyrs were dragged on hurdles. From March
4th to March i2th, Tyburn is the centre of an
annual Novena organized by the Guild of Our
Lady of Ransom, for the conversion of England
and of individuals.

It has appeared very appropriate that the
Divine Heart should be perpetually adored and
should reign over the place where so many of
His Martyrs had their hearts torn from their
breasts after having been cut down while still
breathing from the gibbet. It is the hope of all
who know Tyburn and love the Sacred Heart
that a worthy Sanctuary may here be built, to

98 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

replace the present temporary chapel, where
the King of Martyrs may be adored for many
generations in the Sacrament of His love and
that from these humble beginnings Tyburn may
become to England what Montmartre is to

France.

* * * *

According to the end of their Congregation,
the Tyburn Nuns, consecrated to the Heart of
Jesus, unite themselves to the intentions of that
Adorable Heart burning with zeal for the glory
of the Most Holy Trinity and for the salvation
of souls. They devote themselves to the Divine
Praise and to the Adoration of the Blessed
Sacrament and endeavour to obtain through
the Sacred Heart of Jesus abundant graces for
the Holy Church and all mankind.

They are placed under the maternal Patron-
age of the Blessed and Immaculate Virgin Mary.
After the Blessed Virgin, the special protectress
of their Congregation is St. Gertrude, the
glorious Benedictine virgin, who so lovingly
contemplated and magnificently glorified the
treasures of the Heart of Jesus.

The Nuns of this Order are called primarily
to the contemplative life. It is in union with the
Adorable Sacrifice of the Altar and in the in-
effable treasures which flow from the daily

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 99

reception of the Holy Eucharist that they find
their greatest support. No work must be pre-
ferred in the Congregation to the Work of God
and the Eucharistic service. Every day, in union
with the praises which the Heart of Jesus ad-
dresses unceasingly to the Holy Trinity, they
offer to God the sacrifice of praise so closely
bound to the Sacrifice of the Altar. The Gre-
gorian chant is always used for the singing at
Mass and Divine Office.

Night and day, before the Blessed Sacrament
exposed, the Nuns offer their adorations in
homage of honour, of praise and love, in gratitude
and reparation, in supplication for the needs of
the Holy Church, and for the extension of the
Reign of the Sacred Heart throughout the
world.

The ideal of their life is that it should be a
continual Opus Dei by striving after perfection
by prayer, sacrifice and zeal to this great end
marked by the Holy Rule : " Ut in omnibus

y

glorificetur Dens."

If their white cowl symbolizes contemplation,
eucharistic adoration and Divine Praise, the
black habit, scapular and veil represent the
poverty, penance and labour which they have
likewise embraced.

The Community may also employ itself in

ioo THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

works of zeal, properly so called, such as
eucharistic and liturgical works, retreats, in-
struction of converts, provided these works be
compatible with contemplative life and the
enclosure.

The Benedictine Congregation of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus of Montmartre has this feature as
yet rare among Benedictine Nuns of being under
the government of a Superioress General.

Every Convent of the Congregation contracts
a special obligation of devotedness for the con-
version or the religious progress of the country
wherein it is established. Consequently the
Convent of Tyburn is devoted and that by a
special Vow to the great cause of the return
of England to Catholic unity. Under the pro-
tection of Our Lady and the Martyrs, the Nuns
strive by prayer and penance to raise unceasingly
towards the Sacred Heart of Jesus the great
supplication which burst forth at the supreme
moment from the heart of one of the most
glorious heroes of Tyburn : " Jesus, convert
England ! Jesus, have mercy on this Country ! '

The Sacred Heart in increasing the number
of the Tyburn Community has already enabled it
to make two foundations : one in 1909 at

MARTYRS OF TYBURN roi

Brussels on that hill of Koekelberg, where will
stand the National Basilica erected by Belgium
to the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ; the
second in 1916 at Royston, in Herts.

THE VOW MADE BY THE COMMUNITY
OF TYBURN FOR THE CONVERSION OF

ENGLAND.

(Renewed Annually).

O JESUS, Immortal King of Ages, Sover-
eign of Nations, Who envelopeth all man-
kind in the Love of Thy Divine Heart.

Humbly prostrate before Thee, we present
in our hearts, England, the land which Thou
hast so much loved, and which we love, and we
adore Thee as her Divine Redeemer. We re-
member all the graces Thou hast lavished upon
this Island, Thy Mother's Dowry, and we unite
our thanksgivings to all those offered to Thee
in past ages, and which will be eternally ad-
dressed to Thee in Heaven by the Blessed
Martyrs and all the other Saints of this Country.

The cruel ravisher of souls has tried to draw
from Thee this nation for ever ! How many
tabernacles are empty ! How many souls have
strayed away ! Thy Heart has been wounded !
We will labour to repair the offences done to
Thee.

Thou hast ever so loved this land ! . . .
Thou ceasest not to call her with an infinite love.
May she return at Thy merciful calling, may

MARTYRS OF TYBURN 103

she come back to the source of life, may she be
Thy beloved daughter, faithful and devoted !
Full of power, she will repair her errors by
making known the love of Thy Divine Heart
wherever her vast empire extends !

O Jesus, we desire to hasten that happy day
by prayer, adoration, penance and zeal.

This Convent of Tyburn, devoted to the
great ends of our religious family, has received
as its own and most special mission that of
representing England unceasingly before Thy
Adorable Heart, and the Community has vowed
itself to offer its adorations and prayers by
night and day, in a special manner for England,
and particularly for the return to the Holy
Church of the children of this great nation, who
are yet separated from the One True Fold.
Lord Jesus, we renew to-day this Vow and this
Offering, and we present them to Thy Sacred
Heart through the Blessed Virgin Mary, our
Holy Father St. Benedict, whose children brought
the Faith to this Country and the glorious
Martyrs who shed their blood at Tyburn.

O Jesus, may the day soon come when all
England shall sing : " Praise be to the Divine
Heart through which salvation has come to us !
To Him be honour and glory for ever and ever.
Amen."

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